History of Cartography of the Nordic Countries
The collection presents research on how, when and why selected maps in the past were made representing the Nordic countries (Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Sweden) or localities within them. The authors discuss maps and mapping in their historical context and investigate how maps reflect social and political organization, ideology and power structures of their time and place. Mapping further reflects networks in which cartographers, surveyors and publishers worked and exchanged ideas as well as circulated instruments, maps and writings within countries and internationally. The authors explore how such factors resulted in the production of specific types of maps in particular places and regions at particular times. Alongside general historiographical contributions, articles present various aspects of cartographical endeavour related to Northern Europe from the Renaissance to the 21st century. The articles have been published in several issues of Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift–Norwegian Journal of Geography, starting in September 2020. Topics on Renaissance cartography include Olaus Magnus’s Carta Marina of 1539, depiction of the European North in Italian Late Renaissance mural maps, and mapping of the European Arctic in the late 16th century search for the Northeast Passage. Nordic Enlightenment cartography from 1650 to 1800 is presented. Changing landscape representation in 19th and 20th century Danish cadastral cartography is explored. Historical cartographical sources in Danish place-name studies are investigated. Debates on prime meridians in Norway and Sweden are presented. Other topics are early Norwegian military mapping, the introduction of theodolites to improve mapping accuracy in Norway, and cartography’s role in Norwegian debates on railway construction.
Edited by
Professor Michael Jones(Department of Geography, Norwegian University of Science and Technology)
Sponsored by